The state Health Department today screened 150 passengers on a Hawaiian Airlines flight from Sydney, Australia, for flu-like illnesses at Honolulu International Airport in 10.5 minutes in the first test of a new screening process it plans to implement for international arrivals.

The one-year voluntary checkpoint screening project, funded by $289,000 from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, is expected to start in a couple of months, said Dr. Sarah Park, deputy chief of the Health Department's Disease Outbreak Control Division.The program is designed to detect influenza-like illness and help identify infection by new flu virus strains, including avian flu.

Today's testing involved English-speaking passengers but officials would like to do testing with a non-English speaking group before starting up the project.

State Health Director Dr. Chiyome Fukino said other countries screened for flu-like illnesses at airports during the international outbreak of the illness known as severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), but Hawai'i will be the first in the United States to implement international flight screening.

"It makes sense for the U.S. to investigate this strategy, given the very real concerns for a potential influenza pandemic," Fukino said in a news release today. "Being a global travel destination, Hawai'i is a good place to start. We hope to share what we learn here with the rest of the nation."

Barring a pandemic alert, the Health Department will likely screen four flights a week when the project is implemented, according to Park.

"Results of the initial screening will be extensively reviewed and fine-tuned before we move forward," Park added.

The project calls for a voluntary checkpoint screening process, starting with a questionnaire, which includes basic demographic information, recent travel itinerary, and illness history including the presence or absence of fever, health officials said. Travelers feeling feverish will be asked to voluntarily pass through a checkpoint process where nurses will check passenger questionnaires for indication of illness.

If fever is detected during the screening process, the traveler will undergo the routine airport illness surveillance procedure, which includes a voluntary throat swab to test for flu infection. All information collected will be kept confidential, health officials said.

Under the current airport surveillance program, pilots routinely notify the Honolulu airport tower if they are arriving with a potentially ill passenger, who will then be evaluated by Centers for Disease Control and Prevention personnel at the gate. Passengers with fever and respiratory symptoms will be asked to undergo flu testing.

The new program will be a collaborative effort involving the Health Department, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, U.S. Customs and Border Protection, and the Hawai'i Department of Transportation. Hawaiian Airlines volunteered to participate in today's testing and the Health Department will be seeking to partner with other international carriers.